Hot Topics:

Rig owner cites BP's low flow estimates

The Associated Press

Updated:
03/02/2013 12:45:33 PM EST

NEW ORLEANS—The owner of the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 says BP hampered efforts to stop the resulting gusher of oil by misleading government officials about how much oil was flowing.

The Transocean corporation's assertions were filed Friday in federal court in New Orleans, where a civil trial could determine how much BP, Transocean and others will pay for the 2010 catastrophe that sent millions of gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf for 87 days.

Seeking to limit its own liability, Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon rig to BP, says the leak could have been stopped two months earlier.

It said federal officials' early attempts to stop the oil failed because oil was spewing at a greater rate than BP was publicly acknowledging.